classic waka stream

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  • Masukagami

Tsuinikaku shizumihatsubeki mukuiaraba uenakimitowa naniumareken

If it was decreed that I should sink so utterly in the end, why was I born to a rank with none above it?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Isashirazu naoukikatano matamoaraba konoyadototemo shinobareyasen

I cannot tell. If there is a place more wretched still, shall I come to remember even this lodging with longing?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Shirubesuru michikosoarazu narinutomo yodonowatariwa wasureshimoseji

Though the office of guiding me is no longer yours, I shall not forget this ford at Yodo.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Hanawanao tomaruarujini kataraeyo warekosotabini tachiwakarutomo

Blossom, stay and keep company with the master of this house, though I must set out and part from you.

Masukagami - Prince Takayoshi

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Inochiareba koyanonokibano tsukimomitsu mataikanaran yukusuenosora

Because I still live I have seen even this moon over the eaves at Koya; and what will the sky of the days ahead be?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Itosemete ukihitoyarino michinagara onajitomarito kikuzoureshiki

Bitter beyond words is this road that others force on us; and yet to hear that we lodge in the same place tonight is a happiness.

Masukagami - Prince Takayoshi

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Mizunoawano kieteukiyoo watarumino urayamashikiwa amanotsuribune

Vanishing like foam, I make my way across a bitter world; what I envy is the fisherman's boat.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Hanawanao ukiyomowakazu sakitekeri miyakomoimaya sakarinaruramu

The blossom has opened without regard to how bitter the world is; must it be at its height in the capital too?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Atomiyuru michinoshiorino sakurabana konoyamabitono nasakeozoshiru

Cherry blossom set as a marker where the track can be seen: by it I know the kindness of these mountain folk.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Awaretowa nanjimomiruran wagatamito omoukokorowa imamokawarazu

You too, I think, look on me with pity; and my heart, which thinks of you as my people, is unchanged even now.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Yosoninomi omoizoyarishi omoikiya taminokamadoo kakutemintowa

From far off only I used to think of them; but did I ever think I should see the people's hearths like this?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Kawaranuo katamitonashite sakuhanano miyakowanaomo shinobarenikeru

The blossom opens, keeping its unchangingness as a keepsake; and at the sight the capital comes back to me.

Masukagami - Chigusa Tadaaki

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Iromokamo kawaranushimozo ukarikeru miyakonohokano hananokozuewa

That neither colour nor scent is changed is just what makes it bitter—these flowering treetops outside the capital.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Ukitabito omoiwahateji hitoedano hananonasakeno kakaruoriniwa

I will not think this journey wholly bitter, when at such a time the kindness of a single flowering branch is offered.

Masukagami - Chigusa Tadaaki

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Hananoharu mataminkotono katakikana onajimichioba yukikaerutomo

How hard it will be to see a spring of blossom again, even if I travel this same road back.

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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Kikiokishi kumenosarayama koeyukan michitowakanete omoiyahaseshi

Kume no Sarayama, whose name I had long known: did I ever think that I should cross it as a road?

Masukagami - Emperor Go-Daigo

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